Tornado Taco’s service is fast with no frills, owner PJ Gautam said.
“Consistency, simplicity, we don’t try to do too much,” he said. “Just do a few things and do them well.”
The restaurant, which specializes in breakfast tacos, has been around in Missouri City since 2002, Gautam said. Customers can get breakfast and lunch either at the service windows or via the drive-thru, building their own tacos with a variety of ingredients, including bacon, sausage, mushrooms, jalapeños and guacamole.
Customers can get a side of potatoes and queso topped with pico de gallo rather than beans and rice, he said.
“It’s just good food, fresh, fast and cheap,” he said.
Tacos start at $1.40 plus the price of additional ingredients. The most popular breakfast tacos are sausage and bacon, Gautam said. He estimated that the restaurant serves 400-1,000 customers per day.
“On Saturdays, we cause traffic jams,” Gautam said.
Tornado Taco’s employees keep busy in the 600-square-foot space. The business has front and rear patios for customers, with a waterfall running behind the building.
Gautam held management positions for various fast food chains and owned PJ’s Pizza from 1990 to 2000 before he started Tornado Taco. He opened the Missouri City location in 2001 and then in 2007, he opened Stafford’s Tornado Burger. In 2010, Gautam opened a Tornado Taco in Spring Branch in Houston.
Gautam said Tornado Taco became a Missouri City staple through loyal customers, whether they are college students or out-of-towners. Lloyd Ernstes, the owner of nearby World Music, said he is a loyal customer of about 10 years.
“I like bacon, egg and cheese burritos,” Ernstes said. “You can’t beat them.”
While Tornado Taco specializes in breakfast tacos, Gautam said the restaurant might soon be serving dinner to go.
“We may be opening this store at night, and we’ll be probably specializing in fajitas, but I don’t know,” he said. “It’s in the works.”
Gautam owns a space across the parking lot from Tornado Taco where he plans to build a commercial kitchen. Food prepared in the separate kitchen would be brought to Tornado Taco for the dinner menu.
“In terms of breakfast tacos, I don’t know of any other place in Houston that can do what we do, and you know, Houston is almost the capital of breakfast tacos now, right?” Gautam said.
